Legends of the Dark Knight

So I find this to be one of the best offerings from the very touch-and-go fourth season, it showed great versatility in what they were willing to try out in their episodes, and I love the two awesome alternate styles to the animation mixed in with the regular one. It's very entertaining visually, and that's not just as far as the animation goes, but it's also in the way the action of the scenarios unfolds and the dialogue. I not really interested in the parts of it that focus on the three kids, I mainly enjoy it for the 'legends' that they tell each other. The first story is my favourite part, with the cartoony 50's go get 'em super-upbeat Batman and Robin, who is dressed like an elf, facing off against the Joker and his goons in a giant musical instrument museum? It's ridiculous but very fun and entertaining, the larger than life energy of it made me smile, I loved the bright colours and the way the shadows were drawn, to me it really looked like old comic panels that were moving, it's a beautiful piece of animation and a faithful representation of that particular era of Batman that, while not personally my type, still does have a certain magic all of its own. It's kinda gently poking a little fun at the more silly slapstick tone, but also celebrating it at the same time. It's so weird seeing a cutesy trickster Joker as opposed to the ruthless manipulating master of deadly mayhem I've always seen him as. Michael McKean did one fantastic Joker voice, kind of light and not particularly threatening but the guy really got the feel of the classic villain down terrifically, his voice tone was ideal as a kooky clown. there was the second chapter which was the complete polar opposite, that sees a gritty hulking Batman with a killer bad-ass attitude battling against the monstrous mutants of a post-apocalyptic warzone version of Gotham!!! It's brilliant in a whole different kind of way and I loved the style of it with the jagged silhouetted backgrounds. Michael Ironside gave an epic Batman voice, so deep and resonant with a hint of malevolence that just perfectly fits, it was a perfect vocal for that striking incarnation of the Dark Knight, I've since learned more about what that segment was actually emulating and I absolutely loved the full version in The Dark Knight Returns Movie, thought it was one of the most amazing stories about Batman I've ever seen, a near masterwork in fact. When that part's over it really feels like it's missing a third segment as it wraps things up mundanely with the Batman of the show saving the kids from burning up after Firefly torches a movie theatre. I get that they had a limited amount of time, but to me it does diminish the effect of the episode a little. But hey on the other hand we do actually see three very different interpretations of Batman so in that way it works. And it's a very good episode that's entertaining and varied and that offers something for just about anyone to enjoy, well worth checking out anytime!

Batman has a mythology, a framework that can be worked in and around but has rules that can't be broken. But what's great about this one episode of the animated Batman show- now featured as a special feature on the Batman: Gotham Knight DVD- is mixed perspective. It's actually ironic that a carbon-copy (updated only with flashy/anime-inspired) was featured as part of the Gotham Knight episodes, when this one, made by Bruce Timm's team and with less flashy animation (though this is arguable), is better and more indicative of the history of Batman.

It's about a few kids who are talking about what they think Batman is "really" like. We get two perspectives, each based on classic Batman lore. The first is done up like those goofy, feel-good comics from the 40s and 50s where Batman and Robin fight Joker in stilted poses- akin to the obscure animated series from the 1970s- where they're caught between a piano and a hard place. It's beautifully done in a retro, jokingly nostalgic manner. The second is a treatment of Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns, and more or less it's faithful to the best parts of the book (the fight against the mutants, the girl Robin, Batman in that crazy-ass tank). Each of the two feature different voices for Batman and Joker and those other characters than usual, and they're both done wonderfully.

Then, finally, the last segment pits the kids into a situation where Batman really has to come save them- this time from the villain Firefly, who traps them in a theater. The whole framework of this story, I might add, is smart for also incorporating an issue from the 70s (credited to Neal Adams) which is about kids talking about what they think Batman is like. It's altogether fun stuff for the Batman fan, and gives casual viewers of the show a taste of what legacy Batman has left behind, for better or worse, in the long history of the comics.